Onslow County voters just said no on Tuesday to a $75 million school bond.

Of the 8,321 votes cast in the referendum, 5,351 or 64 percent were against the bond. The remaining 2,970 voted for it.

Rolland Leach, of Jacksonville, said he voted against the school bond referendum because he said that “we kind of put enough into schools.”

Leach said that he felt teachers need to teach more, but instead he hears regularly about how they need higher pay.

“We could throw millions of dollars into education and teachers are just sitting back,” he said, explaining that he expects more and more people to enroll their children in private schools as a result.

Jacksonville resident Rosy Hays also voted against the referendum because of an expected property tax increase that would be enacted to pay for it.

“It’s something the entire community should share not just homeowners,” she said.

School officials say the referendum would have funded security upgrades; pay for construction of a new Dixon Middle School and Richlands Elementary School; and cover maintenance of chillers, HVAC systems, asphalt surfaces, roofing and windows.

Board of Education Chairwoman Pam Thomas said that she was disappointed in the results.

“Know that this was the least expensive ways to build schools and we’ll just have to see what we can do to overcome this and see what our options are from here out,” Thomas said.

Onslow County Schools Public Information Assistant Suzie Ulbrich called the bond’s defeat “unfortunate.”

“We believe a low interest municipal bond was truly the most cost effective way to fund the school system’s most critical needs,” she said. “The needs remain the same. We’ve had a history of supporting our bonds; however we realize it is an uncertain time economically and there are many who are not in favor of having their property taxes raised.”

But Ulbrich emphasized the issue itself isn’t done.

“I hate to repeat myself, but the needs do not go away,” she said. “The county will need to figure out a way to fund these projects in the near future.”

Election results remain unofficial until the Nov. 12 canvass.

Amanda Hickey is the government reporter at The Daily News. She can be reached at amanda.hickey@jdnews.com.